2014 CPB Annual Station Survey:Local Content and Services Report

1. Describe your overall goal and approach to address identified community issues, needs and interest through your station's vital local services, such as multiplatform long and short-form content, digital and in-person engagement, education services, community information, partnership support and other activities and audiences you reached or new audiences you engaged.

KHSU's mission is "...to present thoughtful and intelligent perspectives on local, national and international issues. Its objectives include fostering the arts, sciences and humanities, giving voice to underrepresented points of view, serving minority as well as majority needs, and both guiding and reflecting public intellect and taste..."

KHSU has a number of channels to address community issues. Since KHSU local programming is driven mainly by volunteer producers from the community we serve, those producers are charged with gathering stories and points of view that voice and meet community needs. We have a couple of reporters who keep their eyes and ears on the local news scene and make suggestions for stories and features we can cover in a longer format that are of interest to our listeners.

In addition, KHSU has a Community Advisory Group comprised of 12 members of the listening audience from the regions KHSU serves. These advisors act as the ears of the paid programming staff, often bringing issues and ideas forward.

By listening to these sources and others, KHSU provides local service in a variety of forms, from our weekday magazine show, the Homepage, and daily community calendar, to short form feature stories and discussion segments. KHSU produces regular programs and features focused on the arts, education, LGBT issues, women's stories, seniors, the environment, local businesses, ranchers and farmers and many others. We engage our audience through our website, an active Facebook page, a digital newsletter and a Twitter feed. These digital initiatives promote on-air events, but also give larger views of stories and issues.

2. Describe key initiatives and the variety of partners with whom you collaborated including other public media outlets, community nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, the business community, teachers and parents, etc. This will illustrate the many ways you're connected across the community and engaged with other important organizations in the area.

The following is a representation of the community connections and engagement made with KHSU programming. This is a broadly representative list and is not an all-inclusive inventory of all that KHSU does with the community.

KHSU uses the afternoon magazine program "The Homepage" to engage with many of the local nonprofits in our area to investigate how their organizations are doing, where the needs are for their agency, and where their funds are spent.

We often have students and parents on to discuss activities taking place at local schools - like North Coast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy - including theatrical performances and fundraising activities that are open to the community.

Planned Parenthood's youth group Spare Change uses the KHSU magazine to discuss their ongoing program and performances, which they take into the local schools to do peer-to-peer sexual education.

On the flip side of all the good work kids are doing in the local community, we've also talked with a local probation officer about delinquency and how to integrate kids back into their schools with their peers.

Every week our correspondent in Crescent City talks with educators, students and administrators about the work they are doing and the successes they see in their day, working to broaden the minds of the youth.

We talk with Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods professors and students about community projects and events.

Food for Thought is a local show that showcases the local farms, ranches, individuals and businesses that are creating local foods. We go behind the scenes to see how United Indian Health Services is helping some local Native community members make better food choices by utilizing the farming practices at the Potowat Village. We heard how a local baker had her products accepted by Whole Foods and how she used kick-starter to raise the funds she needed to go beyond Humboldt County.

KHSU has paired up with Making Headway to discuss prevention of head injuries and the work they do for local folks as well as their offer to give helmets to anyone who makes a request.

Area One Agency on Aging is a new partner with KHSU. They are producing a program every week to discuss issues seniors face, including love after 50, creativity, volunteering, finding your identity after retirement, and finding adventure in retirement.

KHSU has a half-hour show titled ArtWaves that covers local artistic and creative activities taking place within our rural communities. Our host talks with local non-profit creative agencies and organizations about their work, as well as local artists, galleries and theater groups. Examples of topics covered include how the arts can help a rural economy grow, talking with Humboldt Area Foundation about Field of Interest grants for arts activities, in-depth discussions with many local artists about their work and the process of creating and distributing their art in local and national galleries, and discussions with educators about arts in public education about the development of art programs in schools.

Sabor Latino programmers bring in groups and individuals to discuss events and other actions taking place in local Hispanic communities.

KHSU works closely with the Arcata Playhouse and Playhouse Arts in discussing the importance of theater, creating art within a small community, and developing a safe space to include youth projects.

The EcoNews Report is a weekly collaboration with a variety of environmental groups in our area who discuss the impact they are making to conserve our lands, wildlife and ocean.

KHSU's weekly call-in talk show, Thursday Night Talk-featured a rotating group of community-based hosts that discussed numerous issues that affect our community. Topics included local economics and home-grown solutions, community health, the drought, greenhouse gas reduction, North Coast electric vehicle infrastructure, local doctor vs parents discussion on vaccinating children, in-depth discussions with candidates for local office, carbon, permaculture, sustainable living. healing and peace in the community following a high-profile murder, how local mental health care workers deal with the prevalence of methamphetamine and its scourge on the community, as well as many other community issues.

Another local KHSU program provides outreach to the families, friends and incarcerated population of a state prison located in our broadcast region.

In 2014, KHSU also partnered with the local PBS station, KEET-TV, to simulcast the League of Women Voters Political Forums.

3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators of success, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served.

We have helped Food for People, the food bank for Humboldt County, get the word out about their different programs to provide food to those who don't have it, and through an annual pledge drive partnership, our listeners helped raise $3,250 for their Backpacks for Kids and Senior Brown Bag programs.

According to Anne Holcomb, executive director at Food for People, "We love partnering with KHSU for the annual Food Challenge because it helps us raise awareness about our programs, provides high quality food for children and seniors and raises funding for our awesome local radio station. Everybody wins!"

Many of our discussions with local nonprofits have opened the doors to the public who were unaware of their existence. For example, Vector Physical Therapy and Aquatic Center offers the community a facility for hand therapy, custom splinting, aquatic therapy, and assistance to children born with cleft palates and cleft lips on the North Coast. These services all benefit community members with low incomes. They've seen an increase in class participation due to our discussions on-air, and people are making donations.

On the education realm many people have been in attendance at functions because they hear about a lecture on KHSU. For example, poet and former teacher Taylor Mali was a presenter at College of the Redwoods. We asked another faculty member from CR to talk about Mali. This discussion drew people to his lecture who ordinarily would not attend that kind of event.

The EcoNews Report is a half-hour program produced in cooperation with the North Coast Environmental Center. This program talks to local, national and government agencies about policies and actions taking place that affect our local environment.EcoNews Report producer Dan Ehresman says "At the Northcoast Environmental Center, we've heard considerable positive feedback from community members in 2014. We saw an increase in event participation with numerous individuals reporting that they heard about the event on EcoNews Report. We've also gotten responses - mostly in-person at various functions as well as in our end-of-2014 questionnaire - from quite a number of individuals thanking us for the quality of the content while stating how important the show is in getting important news out to the public. Similarly, the guests we have on the show have expressed how grateful they are to be able to tell their stories and increase their connections with our listening audience. The show has also allowed us to maintain communications and strengthen relationships with other organizations and individuals doing great work on the North Coast. Many thanks to KHSU for being such a great community partner!"

4. Please describe any efforts (e.g. programming, production, engagement activities) you have made to investigate and/or meet the needs of minority and other diverse audiences (including, but not limited to, new immigrants, people for whom English is a second language and illiterate adults) during Fiscal Year 2014, and any plans you have made to meet the needs of these audiences during Fiscal Year 2015. If you regularly broadcast in a language other than English, please note the language broadcast.

KHSU produces a two-hour bilingual show, Sabor Latino, which is primarily music with some conversation about community events taking place in both Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. This program is targeted towards Hispanic listeners. The people who produce this program are community members and Latino HSU students.

Through the Eyes of Women is a weekly half-hour program produced by and about women. This show addresses different perspectives, ideas, culture, professions and accomplishments of women.

KHSU produces a short feature about the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender community and the issues facing them, both locally and internationally.

On KHSU's subcarrier signal we offer Reading Service of the Redwoods. This service provides audio for sight-impaired community members to hear individuals reading from the local newspapers.

In 2014, KHSU launched a new feature as part of our weekday magazine show dealing specifically with issues of aging. In partnership with our local agency on aging, the program, "Chronologically Gifted," has looked at topics ranging from the emotional challenges of life after 50 to more practical concerns.

KHSU is partnering with Playhouse Arts and an independent producer to air a program on the experience of military veterans returning to a community that does not understand or have a connection to war. Planning for this program began in 2014; it will air in 2015.

Additionally, KHSU began the planning to produce an in-depth feature of what's happening in our local schools. One show will include working with a class of high students who are learning Spanish and creating stories. Another show will involve Humboldt State University students working with a local middle school to document their year-long project that takes them into the community, working with mentors, and doing service projects. We want to find out how projects like these can change a student's perspective on their own world.

5. Please assess the impact that our CPB funding had on your ability to serve your community. What were you able to do with your grant that you wouldn't be able to do if you didn't receive it?

KHSU uses funding from CPB to acquire programming from national producers like NPR, APM, PRI and PRX as well as independent producers. In most cases, KHSU is the only outlet in our rural region for the programs we acquire with this funding. Many of our listeners are in areas where broadband internet service, cable television or satellite television is unavailable or prohibitively expensive. In these areas, KHSU is a lifeline of informational, educational, and cultural programming.

Without CPB funding, it is unlikely that KHSU could to afford to provide these programs to our listeners in Northern California and Southern Oregon.